


All's Fair

by Artifiction



Category: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-11
Updated: 2013-10-11
Packaged: 2017-12-29 02:25:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/999760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artifiction/pseuds/Artifiction
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A few people on Beta Colony have choice reactions to the news of Cordelia's marriage.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All's Fair

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [Lanta](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lanta/pseuds/Lanta) in the [Bujold_Ficathon_2013](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Bujold_Ficathon_2013) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Beta Colony reacts to the news of Cordelia's marriage, and all that follows.
> 
>  **Author's Note**  
>  I couldn't find the name of the engineer (the only other person visible involved with Cordelia's Expeditionary Mission, so I made one up. The first two characters are OC's.  
> Not sure who else I could write for this, but if someone wants a reaction from a specific character they /really/ want butchered, feel free to drop me a line.

  
The woman stood nude by the 'window', gazing out on the beautiful sunset. The golden light from the screen gilded her body with an enticing sheen, and Mara couldn't help but watch, entranced, as her partner turned.  
  
 "What do you think of this business with the lady from the Expeditionary Force?"  
  
She raised herself on her elbows. "Who, Naismith?" Mara grinned. "She kicked Steady Freddy in the bollocks on open cam, then vanished like a ghost. As far as I'm concerned, she's a folk hero. Best thing to happen on public channels since Gould became Press Secretary."  
  
Ela waved her hand dismissively, turning away from the sunset, becoming a no-less-tempting silhouette. "No, that's old news, I mean the _new_ news." She crossed her arms. "And Steady Freddy _is_ the President."  
  
Mara smirked. "I didn't vote for him." She pushed herself back up towards the headboard, the blanket sliding down and baring her above the waist. "What new news?" She patted the bed beside her invitingly, and Ela obliged her. Politics always made fantastic pillow talk, especially considering that in the worst case, anything they said would be protected speech as erotic roleplay. Slander and sedition alike were fine and dandy as long as you did them sans garments, after all.

"Word is, she was spotted on _Barrayar_ of all places, and getting hitched to the Butcher himself."

That was enough to startle Mara out of her amusement, and she blinked, thoughts whirling. "Barrayar, really? How odd. You'd think after she got kidnapped by them — what, twice?— she'd rather avoid them. D'ya think the M.H.B missed some Stockholm or something?" It was rhetorical, of course. The Mental Health Board never missed anything.

"Nah. More likely it's either some sort of political thing. She was in the Astronomical Survey, so you _know_ she's brilliant, maybe the Barrayarans are importing scientists to teach them how to eat with utensils? Maybe the Butcher needs an Elpee-Estee, to teach him how humans do it. God knows _I'd_ pay through the nose to get under that blue uniform. Or maybe she's a mole-"  
  
Mara let her darling political conspiracist babble for a few seconds longer, then  wound her fingers in Ela's hair, bringing her into a sweet kiss. Descending to the covers together, they speculated no more.

* * *

"It's a crock of bullshit man, I'm telling you!" Parnell was pacing back and forth in front of the screen, while Trent just sat back and watched. He'd been at it for going on an hour, now, so riled up he'd gone and put on his Expeditionary Force uniform as if caught with some notion to go complain to the authorities. Trent hadn't bothered, and his was in the wash, anyways. "Captain Naismith is a _hero,_ not some... some... brainwashed toy of a barbarian! There's more to this, there's no way she sold us out! She killed Ges Vorrutyer, she risked her life and her bodily integrity for us, and she gets called a traitor? Come on, man, you're not eating this crap, are you?"

Trent glanced up and spread his fingers noncommittally, as if to say, "What do you want from me?" Parnell snorted, throwing up his hands in disgust. "It's a setup, I'm telling you. I'm betting that Barrayaran bastard kidnapped her, and has her drugged up to the gills so he can parade her around as his wife, flaunting the heroine of Escobar on his damn arm like a trophy.... It would explain why she freaked at the press conference, too, she must have known he was coming for her. Dammit, Trent, we shoulda stuck by her, the Barrayarans wouldn't have gotten past us!" The engineer was in no mood to encourage Parnell's speculations, nor to suggest that he and the pilot wouldn't have been much of a hindrance to any imagined kidnappers. Still, he couldn't resist jabbing a bit at his friend.

"Maybe she just likes the guy. He's cute, in a kinda ruggedly handsome way." Parnell purpled, and Trent winced. Wrong thing to say. Before he could amend himself, the pilot spun on toe.

"That's it. I'm going to get myself a ship, I'm going to find her, and I'm going to bring her back. If you're with me, get your stuff ready. Now. I'll call you when I've found a ship for us." Rapid footsteps, a slammed door,  and Parnell was gone. Trent sighed, leaned back in his chair, and turned the holovid back on. _"... Cetagandan Emperors for six-hundred..."_

* * *

 

Mehta watched the screen with dull and bloodshot eyes, face half-hidden in her cup. It took nearly a minute for the meaning of what was on the news to penetrate through her alcohol-sodden brain, but when it did, she jerked upright at the bar, nearly upsetting her glass. The motion strained the yellowing bruises on her neck under her high collar, and she coughed, her words caught in her throat. _I was right! Goddamn you, Tailor, I was right! What'd she do, flash you?_ Her muddled mind spun with possibilities. Surely, surely she'd get her job back now, maybe even a promotion. She'd get back at Commodore Tailor for tossing her under the bus when the Heroine of Escobar had vanished. A rogue theory bounded through her mind: what if he was in on it, too? An officer of the Expeditionary Force, suborned by the Barrayarans... perhaps she'd even get a medal. She was about to get up from the bar to get started when she noticed her glass on the surface. With another cough, she grabbed the clear stein and downed the rest of its burning contents in two swallows before slamming it down and stumbling away from her stool. She made it all of a dozen steps out of the bar before her head spun, and her legs with it. The splash she made as she landed in the public fountain was loud enough to attract attention, and she soon found herself taken well in hand for public disturbance by the authorities.

  
            She woke up the next morning with a splitting headache, a small fine, and no memories of the night before.

**Author's Note:**

> Fin~


End file.
